Drier for veneer, wall board, and the like



A. J. VANQE DRIER FOR VENEER, WALL BOARD, AND THE LIKE Yam, N1, 192$Filed Aug. '1. 1924 5 Sheets-Sheec l firthur J Vance (Imam/4 Jam 17,1928. 1,656,802

AHJ. VANCE DRIER FOR VENEER, WALL BOARD, AND THE LIKE .Filed Aug. 1.1924 5Sheets-Sheet 3 Syn wanton mswaz A. .30 VANGE DRIER FOR VENEER,WALL BOARD, AND THE LIKE Filed Aug. 1 1924 5 Sheets-Sheet attomg Jam 17,1928. 1,656,802

A. J. VANCE DRIER FOR VENEER, WALL BOARD, AND THE LIKE Filed Aug. 1.1924 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 66 E i I x 60" I 4 49 gwuzniot @511 @mmm PatentedJan. 17, 11928.,

UNNEO STATES eastern @FHQIE.

ARTHUR J. VANCE, OF PAINESVILLE, OHIO, ASSIGNOB TO THE ODE MANUFACTURINGCOMPANY, OF PAINESVILLE, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

This invention relates to driers such as are used for drying andseasoning veneers, wall board and other like material.

More particularly the invention relates to a drier for the above purposewherein the material passes slowly through a long horizontally arrangeddrying chamber, conveying means being provided within the chamher formoving the strips or sheets of the material under treatment from one endof the chamber to the other. The air circulating system is described inmy copending application, Serial No. 725,922, filed July 14, 1924.

Driers of this description are subject to considerable changes intemperature and are frequently of considerable length, the length insome cases running into several hundred feet. Since the structuresupporting the conveying means is preferably continuous for constructionpurposes, the changes in temperature in such driers are accompanied bycorrespondingly great expansion and contraction of the frame and whenthe drier is of considerable length the structure frame can be built inexpansion sections with suitable spaces between them, each expansionsection being anchored in its middle. The description herein refers todriers of a single expansion unit. The usual construction of the framework of these driers has included bottom sills on each side of I beam orchannel section resting on rollers which in turn rested on a metal trackon the foundation. Prior construction has also included the anchoring ofthe bottom sills to the foundation at one end of the drier, so that theexpansion and contraction took place from the anchored end of the drier.The longitudinal top sills of the frame work have been made of channels,supported by vertical members which rest on the top of the longitudinalbottom sills. It is necessary to insulate driers of this type byhousings and the sides are made of removable panels, for convenientaccess to the bearings, chains and interior of the drier. Priorconstruction used metal brackets secured to the outer sides of thelongitudinal bottom and top sills in such manner that the side panels,when supported by said'brackets did not insulate, or cover the sides ofthe longitudinal bottom and top sills, but left them exposed to radiateheat from the drier to the outside. Furthermore, the fact that nohousing was provided out- A'pplication filed August 1, 1924.

Serial No. 729,618.

side the bottom sills resulted in leaving open spaces between theexpanslon rollers, on which the bottom sills rested, and between thebottom ofthe bottom sills and the top of the foundation; the said openspaces allowing large airleakage between the inside and outside of thedrier and making it more dillicult to accurately control the airmovements inside the drier. Moreover these housings usually have endsprovided with horizontal slots through which the material is introducedand, after the treatment, passed out. These slots are also further causeof heat loss in the usual construction.

In addition to the heat losses the auction ing of a long drier at oneend presents many mechani 'al difficulties due to the expansion andcontraction. F or instance, the force developed against the anchoringdevice is on one side so that the stresses produced are high.

lVith the above facts in mind, the important objects of the presentinvention are to so improve the construction of the driers of thisdescription that but little escape of heated air, steam, or other dryingmedium will be permitted from the interior of the housing into theatmosphere, the entry of cold exterior air will be prevented, thedifficulties of anchoring the device Will be reduced to a minimum, andprovision will be made for so adjusting the relative positions of thesides of the drier longitudinally that a proper feed of the strips orsheets being treated will be ensured.

With the above and other objects in view one specific form of theinvention will now be particularly described, and hereinafterspecifically pointed out in the claims, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view, of a drier constructed in accordancewith this invention.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary detail at one side of the drier with thehousing broken away to show the anchor at that point.

Figure 3 is a side elevation on an enlarged scale, showing a portion ofsuch a drier, part of the housing being broken away to dis close theinterior construction.

Figure 4 is a cross section through such a drier as is shown in Figure3. Figure 4 is a fragmentary detail of the drive chain and rollsprockets.

Figure is a detail horizontal section through a. door fastening means.

Figure 6 is'a longitudinal section showing the arrangement at the endsof the drier for closing the entry and exit slots.

Figure 7 is a partial elevation of one end of the driershowing themanner of supporting the housin at the end.

Figure 8 is an en ar ed detail view of the upper longitudinal e ge ofthe drier, the view being a section through this edge.

Figure 9 is a view similar to Figure 8 but showing the lowerlongitudinal edge ar ran ement.

Figure 10 is an enlarged side elevation of the anchoring device.

Fi re 11 is a section on the line 1111 of Figure 10.

Figure 12 is a section on the line 1212 of Fi re 10.

hedrier proper comprises an elongated housing indicated in general at 10and having at one end feeding roll section 11 and at the other end areceiving and cooling section. The heated air which constitutes thedrying medium, is drawn from the air heater 3, and passes through thecasing 4 of the fan blower and from the air supply duct 5 into the airjet nozzles 6 upon either side of the drier, which distributes the hotair between the pairs of conveyor rolls in the manner described in myapplication, Serial No. 725,922. The air is withdrawn at the feeding endinto the return air ducts 7, and is either shunted in whole or in partthrough the stack 8 or returned through the duct 9 to be reheated in theheater 3. In the construction of the drier there is provided on eachside anelongated foundation 13 whereon is laid a channel iron track 11in which are located rollers 15. These rollers support the longitudinallower side sills 16 of a frame for supporting the conveyor rolls andheating elements. The side sills 16 are connected by transverse sills 17and extending up from each side sill are the vertical frame members 18,each being here shown as formed of a pair of structural steel anglesarranged back to back. on each of the frame members 18 are a series ofbrackets 19 and carried by these brackets are lengths of structuralangles 20 which serve to support the return bends 21 of heater coils 22,these bends being held in position by cover plates 23 and bolts 24.Secured to the sills 17 are angles 25 which connect the sills with eachother and which support t1. lower heater coils 26, the coils bein heldin position by cover plates 27 secured by bolts 28. Carried by theupright members 18 are roll journal bearing bars 29 havin lower openings30 wherein are supporte by means of roller bearings 31, the Journals 32of lower conveyor rolls 33. Also the bars 29 are rovided with slott d bings 34, opening at the top but normally closed by cover plates 35secured in osition by the bolts 36. These slots receive t 1e ]ournals 37of the upper conveyor rolls 38 which lower journals carry the starwheels which connect the upper and lower rolls so that they rotate inunison. At the top the members 18 are connected by transverse top sills43 which have at their ends longitudinally extending channels 44. By theconstruction which is described it will be seen that there is providedwithin the housing a continuous conveyor and heater coil supportingframe which is free to move, as by expansion or contraction underdifferent heat conditions, on the rolls 15.

At intervals along the lower longitudinal sills 16, there are providedoutwardly and downwardly extending brackets at one side, which arepreferably formed as shown at 46, to support the lower channel 42, whileon the other side they are formed as at 47. The outer and lower ends ofthese brackets carry outwardly extending angle bars 48 which form thebottom sills of the housing frame. These angle bars are so ositioned asto slide on the top of the foun ation 13, being thus free to move, underthe expansion and contraction before mentioned, without dragging on thefoundation while at the same time they practically prevent airfrompassing either in or out of the housing beneath its side walls.Similarly at the top of the de vice the channels 44 support brackets 44which support members 49 of the housing frame. Suitably secured to theseangles 48 and -19, as by bolts 49*, are narrow door panels 50, which arerabbcted to receive door panels 54,which are secured thereto by studs56, inserted in bars 57 and held on by washers and thumb nuts 55. Itwill be noted in Figure 5 that the rabbcting of the wide doors andnarrow doors is such as to leave the small spaces 50" and 50 to providefor unequal expansion of the housing doors as compared to the frame.Similar rabbeting of the housing doors is used when the frame work oflong driers is built in expansion sections with spaces between the endsof the sections, so that the housing is continuous with joints to takeup the expansion and contraction. It will be seen that the side housingdoors 50 and 54 com letely enclose all parts of the frame work 0 thedrier and that they extend from the foundation to the top insulation.preventing the leakage un- Ian der the bottom sills between theexpansion rollers. I further greatly reduce the heat losses byeliminating the longitudinal air ducts at each side of the drier betweenthe frame and the housing by eliminating the air flues heretoforeemployed, such as shown for instance, at M, M in Fig. 3 of patent toside walls of the housing close to the-side.

frames, merely leaving sufficient clearance for the end bearings of therolls, as shown in Fig. 4. i

In order to anchor the structural or main frames so as to keep them fromcreeping along the foundation it is necessary to tie them down to thefoundation at some point. Experience has shown that tying these framesat one end to the foundation is notsatisfactory and in order-to properlysecure the frames it is preferred that a bracket 58 be secured centrallyof the drier to. the foundation as by the bolts 59, the bracket havingspaced arms 60 which extend between the flanges of the channel 16. Oneof these devices is provided on each side and each channel has securedto its web a pair of spaced brackets 61 which are connected to thebrackets 60 adjusting screws 62, and nuts 63. By this means the centralportion of the frame is held fixed and each end allowed to expandfreely. Furthermore, it is found that if misalignment of the framecauses one side to be more advanced than the other so that the rolls arenot at right angles to the direction of travel of the material being fedthrough the drier, that the latter tends to move to one side of theframe and its passage is interfered with. This may be corrected byslightly adjusting the relativepositions of the sides of the frame andthis adjustment is effected by proper manipulation of the adjustingscrew-62 just referred to.

The angles 49 front each other and supported on these angles and thetransverse members 48 is a corrugated sheet 64 on which are layers ofinsulating material 65, a metal sheet 66 covering said layers. Thisforms the roof of the drier. At each end of the drier an end wall isprovided, the outer or housing frame having corner posts 67 (see Fig. 6)connected at the top and bottom by channel bars 68, and between the topand bottom by angle bars 69. These channel bars and angle barssupportmetallic casings 70 open on the inside and filled with heatinsulating material, preferably asbestos slabs 7 2. The metallic casingsare turned up and down inside at the top and bottom and are verticallyspaced to provide inlet and. exit openings 71 which are closed againstthe admission or outlet of air by arranging the end rolls'33 and 38 inclose proximity to the inside surfaces of the metallic casings as shownin Figure 6 where it will be seen that these openings do not permit. thepassage of air. It is to be noted in Figure 6 that the supports for therolls are omitted better to disclose the particular arrangement forclosing these openings.

From the foregoing it will be obvious that provision is made forconserving the heat in the drier proper and for preventing the latterfrom cooling off either by flow or air around the bottom or end ports orby conduction through the walls and roof. It is also important toprevent radiation throughout the air circulating systems. I thereforeencase the walls of the air ducts, and casings of the heater and fanblower with a thick heat insulating medium as indicated in Figure 1. Bythese various means I have effectually prevented the heat lossesuniversally found in all prior veneer driers and have very materiallyincreased the efficiency. Moreover I am now able to control the heatdistribution throughout the drier in a manner heretofore impossible.Again, my method of anchoring the frame causes the expansion of one partof the drier to be balanced by the expansion of the other so that littleor no stresses are brought on the holding-down bolts, and also providesmeans for aligning the opposite ends of the rolls.

It will be obvious that changes may be made inthis specific structurehere shown, such changes being within the scope of engineers and notrequiring invention. It is not, therefore, desired to confine theinvention to the exact form herein shown and described but it is wishedto include all, that properly comes within the scope claimed.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In a drier of the class described, a foundation, a drier frameincluding longitudinally extending sills, longitudinal track waysresting on the foundation beneath the sills, rollers in said track wayssupporting said sills, a pair of spaced arms projecting from the centralportion of each sill, brackets each secured to the foundation and eachprojecting between a cooperative pair of arms, and adjusting screwsconnecting said brackets and arms.

2. In a drier of the class described, afoundation, a drier frameincluding longitudinally extending sills, longitudinal track waysresting on the foundation beneath the sills, rollers in said track wayssupporting said sills, securing means fixed to the foundation andconnected to the longitudinal centers of the sills to hold thesameimmovable, brackets extending laterally from said framesills, housingside sllls carried bysald brackets and extending along the foundation inclose approximation thereto, an insulating housing having sidessupported on the last mentioned sills, and other means for connectingthe upper part of the frame and housing, whereby the frame is completelyenclosed by the insulating housing:-

3. In a drier of the class described, a conveyor roll supporting frame,means to anchor said frame at one point of its length whereby varyingheat conditions may ex pand and contract the frame from and'to- Wardssaid point, a housing supported by and expanding and contracting withsaid frame, said housing being constructed to permit of a differentrate' of expansion from the frame, and having'end Walls provided withentry and exit slots extending horizontally of the ends, and conveyorrolls supported on said frame in spaced pairs, one roll of each pairbeing vertically alined over the other, the end pair of said rolls beingpositioned within the housing opposite sai slots and extendingthereacross to close the same.

4. In a drier of the class described, a foundation, a roll supportingframe mounted thereon to permit expansion and contrac tion, a heatinsulating housin entirely sur rounding the sides, ends and top of saidframe and extending down to the foundation and supported by said frame,said housing having entry and exit slots arranged horizontally in itsends, and conveyor rolls supported on said frame with the end rollsclosing said slots.

5. In a drier as set forth in claim 4, means permitting said housing toexpand and contract at a different rate from the frame.

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature.

ARTHUR J VANCE.

